Daring
by amor-remanet
Summary: Zacharias Smith has a crush on someone who doesn't see it coming. SLASH, Zach x Cedric.
1. Chapter 1

Zacharias sat on one of the desks, suddenly feeling very, very short. Here he was, thirteen, and he could still sit on a desk without his feet touching the ground. Anxiously, he let his gaze flit around the empty classroom. It felt like he'd already been there half an hour, where the Hell was Cedric? Zach checked his watch impatiently; it was 7:45 – he'd told Cedric 7:30, hadn't he? Yeah, yeah… he definitely had. Sure, he'd been there early, so he'd been waiting longer than he needed to, but Cedric was usually on time! Yeah, he had Triwizard stuff to attend to this year, but still! Zach had specifically told him that it was important!

And it was. And Cedric was a friend – their parents knew through the Ministry (it was Zach's "humble" opinion that Cedric's father more than needed a shave), Cedric had watched over him at large parties before (but always, somehow or other, made it fun) – and he was a Prefect; he was double obligated to show up. Especially for something important. …Okay, maybe it wasn't as important as preparing for whatever the Second Task was going to be, or studying for NEWTs (if he still had to take them), or Cho Chang…

Zach swallowed hard. Cho. Chang. That was it. That had to be why Cedric was fifteen minutes late (the clock ticked grimly; sixteen minutes late). He was seeing her again. He had to be. They were quite the item, the two of them – and, admittedly, they were a very pretty couple. He, a perfect Triwizard champion, a Quidditch captain, a Seeker, top student, and easily the most beautiful person Zach knew; she, apparently rather bright (she was a Ravenclaw, after all; she almost had to be), popular, and undoubtedly pretty for a girl – they looked nice together. Nicer than Zach and Cedric would've looked together, at any rate… but he had to get this out somewhere.

The door creaked open; Zach's head perked up instantly. Gray eyes and a smile entered the room – Cedric. Clearly remembering that what Zach needed to tell him was important, he shut the door behind him. For the first time Zach could remember, Cedric's smile looked rather strange – sad, strained, and not entirely right. But he meant it, and, for once, it was meant only for Zach. Not that Cedric said so explicitly, but Zach could tell. That smile was his.

Cedric strolled over to Zach's desktop perch, reached out, and ruffled the younger boy's hair. "Sorry I'm late," he said calmly. He explained, "I was going over the clue about the Second Task with Cho and… er… well, we sort of lost track of time until, strangest thing, Ernie came down and said he had to take Cho to see McGonagall."  
"Uh huh," Zach agreed blankly, staring at his shoes. So he was with her after all. "Real weird."  
"So… what did you want to talk about?"

Zach gulped and looked up into those gray eyes; instantly, he was struck with realization: Cedric really, honestly, didn't know. How could someone so smart miss something like this? Granted, Zach had thought he was being covert in his infatuation, but there was always the chance that he hadn't been. Susan had noticed, after all, and told him to do something about it before he went completely mad with whatever it was that was eating him alive. …And Cedric, the object in the gigantic mess of a sentence, didn't even know that he was being acted upon.

Before he could think to stop himself, Zach closed his eyes and lurched forward. For one brief, shining second, he felt his lips collide with Cedric Diggory's; a charge of happiness ran through him, but it only made him more desperate, his need more pressing. The silence as he pulled away from Cedric was unbearable, the look in the gray eyes unreadable. …Oh god. He was in for it now. What had been so wrong with this, though? …But Cedric was going to kill him – he could feel it in the way the silence imposed on him, the way it made it hard for him to breathe. The space between them was small, which should've been nice, but, now, it was all too cramped and painful.

"Zach…" Cedric whispered; Zach wanted it to be soothing, but it only grated against his raw, exposed nerves. "I-"  
"Cedric!" Zach interjected desperately, wretchedly. "I love you!"

Cedric pulled back and stood up straight; calmly, he looked Zach up and down. Zach wrapped his fingers around the edge of the desk and felt his knuckles turn white. He only looked up when he felt Cedric's hand ruffling his hair. Surprisingly, he was met with a smile.

"You're a good kid, Zach," Cedric said with an honest smile, ruffling Zach's hair again. "Get some sleep tonight, okay?"

Zach nodded slowly and sighed to himself as Cedric left.


	2. Chapter 2

Zach had been fifteen for almost a week and still the thought of what he'd done made him ill. It wasn't even that he'd done something wrong – well, maybe he had; he couldn't be too sure… but confessing undying love for an older, straight boy, who had a girlfriend he really seemed to love… well, it was probably up there with, "taking Susan to the Yule Ball so she wouldn't be alone, and then having a miserable time anyway" on the list of Horrible Things He'd Done. And sending Cedric a letter, even at Susan's advice… well, that probably beat everything else out by a fairly large margin. He'd been going mad about it all week. Somehow or other, he knew that Cedric had gotten it… but it had been a week already and Cedric hadn't said or done anything differently than normal, aside from avoiding Zach. At least it seemed like he was avoiding him.

And he had all good reason to, really. Zach wasn't going to blame him, at least. Maybe Susan would, if he told her that he thought Cedric was avoiding him, but, then again, she was just as likely to be reasonable and tell him that Cedric was probably just confused – which was wholly understandable. After all, it wasn't every day in the life of Cedric Diggory that you got told _by another bloke_ that he fancied you, even though you had a girlfriend. And, even if there weren't the important factor of Cho Bloody Chang, Cedric was still a Triwizard Champion, and he still had bigger, more important things to think about than a stupid boy with a stupid crush.

With a sigh, Zach looked up at Susan from the dinner he was mostly just poking at; she gave him one of her worried little half-smiles, as if to say, "Come on. We'll get through this. And it's probably not as bad as you think." Of course she was worried, even though he wished that she wouldn't be.

"Zach," she started.

But, before she could get too far, she was cut off. Suddenly, Zach felt a presence behind him and a large, calm hand on his shoulder. A couple feet above his head, the calm, soothing voice of Cedric Diggory said:

"I'm sorry for interrupting, Susan, but… this is rather important." He leaned down, closer to Zach's ear. "Zach, could I have a word?"  
Petrified, Zach looked to Susan for any sort of guidance; she just nodded in the, "Don't pass this up!" way. "Er… sure?" he said warily.  
"Good," Cedric said. "Come on… I think we need a little more privacy."

Zach gave one last look to Susan, then got up and followed Cedric to a deserted corridor. …Oh god, Cedric was going to kill him. Okay, he didn't seem mad, but… did Cedric ever seem mad? Zach swallowed hard on… _something_ and felt his face turning bright red. Here this was, the last thing he needed to be worried about, and he was still being forced to deal with it, and it was coming from the last person who deserved to be with him, and… and he was hugging Zach. Somehow, while Zach had been thinking, Cedric had decided to hug him… it was nice, but he didn't have to… but he was… and then he separated, and pulled Zach's letter out of his pocket.

"Oh my god…" Zach whimpered before Cedric could say anything.  
"Okay, so you _did_ send it," Cedric sighed.  
"Uh huh…" was all Zach could manage.  
"Well… I … I'm probably going to be the bad guy on this one…"  
"No…"  
"Well… I know I really didn't handle this that well the first time…"  
"No, no, I sprung it on you, and you didn't know, and-"  
"No, Zach, I really didn't handle it well. I was caught off-guard, and I wasn't thinking about how you felt, and I'm really sorry."

…How could anyone not love him? Zach didn't need to look at Cedric to see that he was honest.

"And I… I'm sorry… but… I don't really fancy blokes-"  
"And you love Chang-"  
"I… what?"  
"Well… she's the one you'd miss most, right? Second Task…"  
"Well… yeah, I love Cho… but, even if I didn't… I mean, I'd still have to let you down, and you're a friend, and I care about you so I really don't want to upset you-"  
"No, no, really, it's fine-"  
"Zach, please don't be flippant about this. I know you'd like me to think that it's not a big deal, but… you're feeling it, and I care about you, so it's a big deal to me. Okay? I just… wanted to apologize for the first time, and then for having to let you down, and I… is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"  
Dumbfounded, Zach stared up at Cedric for what seemed like hours. Finally, he managed, "Could… could I kiss you again?"  
Cedric blushed a bit, but nodded. "Sure."  
"You probably just want me to get it over with, and I totally understand, and-"  
Cedric tucked a bit of hair behind Zach's ear and whispered, "Take your time."

The kiss… was a total blur of sensation. Cedric pushed Zach's hair back, their lips met, Zach felt light-headed… and then it was over. And Cedric had his hand on Zach's shoulder, and…

"You'll make someone really happy someday, Zach," Cedric whispered.


End file.
